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SF grad killed in collision

Vehicle broke down outside of Columbus

Forsyth County News

Julie Arrington

Updated:
Oct. 9, 2009, 12 p.m.

Family and friends are mourning the loss of a 2004 South Forsyth High School graduate who died in a wreck near Columbus.

David Zachary Boling, 24, was killed and his parents injured Saturday after car trouble forced the family to stop along the side of Interstate 185.

A spokeswoman for the Georgia State Patrol post in LaGrange, which is handling the investigation, said Wednesday that a report on the wreck was not available.

Ronnie Davis, who coaches softball at South and was Boling’s baseball coach, said he has spoken with the sisters of his former player, as well as several close family friends.

Funeral services are incomplete, Davis said, and will be announced by Ingram Funeral Home.

Davis said Boling’s parents, David and Shannon, are recovering at a Columbus hospital from injuries they suffered in the collision. The couple currently lives in Columbus.

He said Zach Boling had been a student at Georgia Southern University, though he was not sure if he was enrolled this semester.

“He always was up for any type of competition,” Davis said of his former player. “He never veered away from any type of situation that was in the game. I think the bigger the situation was, the more he wanted to be involved in it.”

Davis said the wreck occurred about 12:15 p.m. Saturday. Zach Boling was going to drop off his parents at his grandmother’s house in Douglasville on his way to Cumming to visit a friend who is getting married soon.

Davis explained that the Bolings pulled over on the grass on the other side of the emergency lane when they heard a noise under the car’s hood.

A Crown Victoria struck the parked vehicle from behind, Davis said, as David Boling was at the front of the car and Zach Boling was on the passenger side, leaning under the hood. Shannon Boling was inside.

“It threw [David Boling] into the fast lane of traffic,” Davis said. “And I guess by the way the car hit them, Zach obviously probably took most of the brunt of the blow.”

Davis said former classmates and their parents gathered for a candlelight vigil Sunday night at South’s baseball field.

“That just showed what kind of person he was,” said Davis, adding that the Boling family had been active booster club members.

“He was one that you always knew you were going to get his best effort and he always looked for a great challenge,” Davis said.